CVE-2026-86081 n8n: Regular Expression Denial of Service in the Default Blocked-File-Pattern Match via a Git Node Clone Path
An authenticated user can freeze the n8n instance by triggering catastrophic backtracking in a regular expression during Git node operations.
- Exploited in the wild
- Not known
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2026-86081?
CVE-2026-86081 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in n8n-io n8n, published on 8 Sep 2026. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Official description
n8n is an open source workflow automation platform. Prior to 1.123.76, 2.37.7, and 2.38.2, the Git node clone operation matched an attacker-controlled destination path against the default N8N_BLOCK_FILE_PATTERNS regular expression. The pattern ^(./).git(/.)$ allowed catastrophic backtracking and ran synchronously in the main n8n process. An authenticated workflow editor could therefore freeze the instance with one workflow execution; the affected default is declared in packages/@n8n/config/src/configs/security.config.ts. This issue is fixed in versions 1.123.76, 2.37.7 and 2.38.2.
Weakness: CWE-1333
Which versions are affected by CVE-2026-86081?
6 open source packages ship an affected version, including n8n.
| Package | Affected | Fixed in |
|---|---|---|
n8n npm | All versions | 1.123.76 |
n8n npm | All versions | 1.123.76 |
n8n npm | From 2.0.0 | 2.37.7 |
n8n npm | From 2.0.0 | 2.37.7 |
n8n npm | From 2.38.0 | 2.38.2 |
n8n npm | From 2.38.0 | 2.38.2 |
How do I fix CVE-2026-86081?
Upgrade n8n to a fixed version for your release line: 1.123.76, 2.37.7 or 2.38.2.
Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.
Is CVE-2026-86081 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2026-86081 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Sources
Also known as GHSA-j535-v25q-vx3q, MINI-7235-52mr-qf9x, ROOT-APP-NPM-CVE-2026-86081.